Aimee Wright the fifth girl cut from 'America's Next Top Model'

By Christopher Rocchio, 03/27/2008

Aimee Wright's inexperience on the runway finally caught up with her, as the 18-year-old hostess from Spanaway, WA became the fifth contestant eliminated from America's Next Top Model's tenth season during last night's broadcast of The CW reality series.

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"I thought I was going to go pretty far," said Aimee in-between sobs after her ouster. "I made it farther than a lot of other girls in this competition, but I thought I was going to go farther... I wish the judges knew that I was more mature than they think I am. They seem to see me as just a very naive, young girl. I think they really got that image of me and didn't think that I was maybe ready for this competition."

Top Model's fifth tenth-season episode began following the previous panel that saw the elimination of Marvita Washington and the judges praising Aimee for her "luminescent" skin."

"Coming into this I had never done any modeling or anything like that before, so this whole competition has been such a learning and growing experience so far," commented Aimee.

Bright and early the next morning, Claire, a 24-year-old production coordinator from New York, NY, was awoken by the alarm clock of Dominique, a 23-year-old receptionist from Columbus, OH.

Since this wasn't the first time it happened, Claire scolded Dominique for it. Anya, a 19-year-old in retail sales from Honolulu, HI, sided with Claire and said Dominique needs to "take responsibility" and "communicate better" with the other girls.

The argument spilled over to breakfast, with Lauren, a 22-year-old artist from Brooklyn, NY, and Whitney, a 20-year-old student from Atlantic Beach, FL, joining in on Claire's behalf. Claire called Dominique a bitch, and Dominique asked if Claire speaks to her husband that way.

"At least I have a husband," Claire told Dominique, as both women have a child but only Claire has a husband.

Dominique called her mom and opined that the other girls were ganging up on her.

"I'm not out to get Lauren, I'm not out to get Whitney, I'm not out to get Claire," said Dominique. "I don't feel that I need to be out to get somebody to be successful in this competition."

The nine remaining contestants then traveled to a dance studio, where they were met by Top Model creator and lead judge Tyra Banks, who explained she had received "a lot of complaints" from runway expert J. "Ms. J" Alexander about the girls' runway walks.

She taught them how to "pose with pain," which included such moves as "the headach," "the heartache," "menstrual pain" and the "ah-I-sprained-my-ankle."

The girls then participated in a pose-off and returned to their loft where they received a message from Tyra that the pose-off was actually a challenge. Tyra revealed Anya had won the pose-off and would go on a one-on-one photo shoot with Top Model judge and photographer Nigel Barker.

The next day Anya arrived at the studio for the shoot, and Nigel explained she'd be posing naked on a bed. The shoot went well, and Nigel commented Anya is a "good model but doesn't even know how good she is."

That night Dominique said she was "really feeling sick" as she laid in bed. However Claire, Whitney and Lauren were all in the same room as Dominique. They were bad-mouthing -- not surprisingly -- Dominique.

Since it was after midnight and she was trying to sleep, Dominique told the three to take their "nastiness and attitude" elsewhere. They didn't listen and continued to talk about Dominique as she tried to sleep.

The next day the girls arrived for their next photo shoot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they were met by Top Model art director Jay Manuel. He explained that each girl would have to embody a specific type of music for her shoot. Russell James would be serving as the shoot's photographer.

"This experience has definitely brought out that passion in me to model," said Aimee. "Being a part of all these experiences, I definitely have realized I want this to be my career."

Fatima, a 22-year-old student from Boston, MA, was heavy metal; Katarzyna, a 22-year-old in finance from Roslyn, NY, was emo; Lauren was pop; Claire was country; Dominique was folk; Anya was punk; Stacy Ann, a 22-year-old student from Miami, FL, was a house DJ; Aimee was R&B; and Whitney was grunge.

Claire -- who had excelled at almost all of the previous photo shoots -- was having a hard time pulling off country due to her constant couture poses.

"It was hard for me to think like how is this hokey country girl going to be a model," she commented.

"Claire showed me the basics of a good approach to a project," commented Russell. "But Claire used her body and it became very contorted and awkward and I didn't understand what she was doing."

Despite feeling "totally sexy" in her outfit, Aimee also ran into problems.

"I tried to create other opportunities for Aimee," said Russell. "But once Aimee was [posing] down on the ground, I don't feel that she felt the shot."

"Aimee is that sweet girl who really hasn't experienced a lot," added Jay. "I don't think she really understands the passion that a lot of R&B singers bring to the table."

With the shoot in the books, the girls returned to their loft.

"I'm worried about my photo shoot," opined Claire. "This is the first time I'm really worried."

She wasn't alone.

"I'm a little nervous about the next panel coming up," said Aimee. "I haven't been in the bottom two yet, but I've been close to it and that was hard enough for me so I don't even want to be in the bottom two."

The nine girls then arrived for Top Model's fifth tenth-season judging panel, where they'd be critiqued by Tyra; Ms. J; Nigel; supermodel Paulina Porizkova; and Russell.

Aimee was criticized for her photo, with Russell commenting R&B was "such a big opportunity" because there's a lot of "emotion" in the genre.

"I felt that you struggled with it," he said.

"This is a beautiful shot, with the colors and the composition's all beautiful -- and you're not working," added Paulina.

Nigel felt Claire's picture was "not quite soft enough for country."

"It's a little too tough, a little too in your face," he said.

"I thought you were lost," said Tyra. "I think this is your worst shoot ever. To have your worst shoot with one of the best photographers in the world is not a good thing. Jay said, 'You were intelligent and ahead of the game when it comes to posing but you need to learn how to adapt yourself to the creative and not let it throw you off.'"

The judges then began to deliberate, and Paulina was harsh in her evaluation of Aimee's photo.

"This picture is like a bad Vegas something that needs to be thrown out into the garbage," she said.

"Ouch!" replied Ms. J.

Nigel reiterated his previous comments that he thought Claire "completely missed the point" of her musical genre.

Tyra said Aimee and Claire were in the bottom two -- which was a "shock," because they deliver beautiful poses week-to-week but faltered during the most recent shoot. She said Aimee was given "one of the easiest" genres and "fell flat." Tyra said Claire's photo was more "comical, blase and stoic than anything else."

She then revealed Claire was safe and Aimee was given the boot.

"In my school, R&B was probably one of the most popular styles of music so I feel pretty stupid that I couldn't make the connection," opined Aimee.

American Next Top Model's next tenth-season episode will air Wednesday, April 2 at 8PM ET/PT.

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